India printer, copier, MFP shipments up 13.2% in Q3 of 2013: Gartner

The serial inkjet and page printer, copier and multi-function product (MFP) market in India totaled 861,212 units in the third quarter of 2013, a 13.2% increase from the corresponding quarter of last year, according to IT research and advisory company Gartner Inc.

The total end spending declined 9% from the same period last year, totaling $223.7 million. Both the monochrome and colour markets posted increases of 12% and 28%.

“Indian organisations are still largely paper-driven.But there is an increasing importance of digitisation and the need to access information anytime, anywhere. This represents an opportunity for print providers to expand their services into optimising the document workflows that support business processes,” Zalak Shah, research analyst at Gartner, said in a release on Tuesday.

While HP remained the market leader in the Indian printer, copier and MFP market with 4,43,200 units and a market share of 51.5%, it was followed by Canon (1,77,800 units, 21%) and Epson (73,700 units, 9%). Samsung Electronics accounted for 7% (58,100 units), while Ricoh accounted for 6% of the market in the third quarter of 2013.

Gartner said that the page A4 MFP segment continued to grow in the third quarter of 2013 and increased 20% compared to the third quarter of 2012. HP continued to perform well in this segment, with a growth of 31.7% and a market share of 56.7%.

“Samsung, again at No2, grew slightly with its market share at 19%, Canon’s shipments increased by 33.4%, and it accounted for 12.8% of the market,” it said, adding that he Page A3 MFP segment showed a small increase of 2% compared to the third quarter of 2012, with Canon leading the market with 23.1% market share, while Ricoh was at No 2 with 19.4% market share, followed by Konica Minolta with 19%.

According to Gartner, the page printer market overall experienced a growth of 7.6% in the third quarter of 2013. The market leaders in this segment were HP (47%), followed by Canon (24%) and Ricoh (16%). HP and Canon’s shipments declined 6% and 9%.